October 7: Luke 10:17-24
Key Verse: Luke 10:20
However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Devotion:
When Jesus sent out the 72 people to go ahead of Him into all the towns before He got there He probably did so for a few reasons. I like to think the primary reason was to show people they could do amazing things in the name of Christ when they chose to listen to Him and obey Him. The same still stands today and will continue to stand for as long as the earth remains.
But the warning He gave them when they returned to Him was one which many people fall into nowadays. Jesus warned them about being proud they could get spirits to submit to them. Instead He told them to rejoice they knew they had a special place in Heaven because they were listening to Him and obeying Him.
When the person shouts out about what they have been able to do, they are lifting themselves and not God any more. God has given us the choice as to what we do, but when we turn our back on worshipping Him and giving Him the glory, we are treading into areas we probably don’t want to be in. When we promote ourselves we may well find we are left to fend for ourselves and fall short of many things!
Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit after hearing the good news and immediately praised God for allowing this all to happen. He especially praised God ordinary people could do such marvellous works when learned leaders who lifted themselves up were not able to do such works.
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust God to use you?
Will you keep praising God when He does great things through you?